The company will undertake overburden removal and coal mining for a five-year period, commencing 1 July 2011.
The contract covers the commencement of ongoing mining operations in the second half of 2011 and ramp-up to more than 5mtpa of ROM coal once additional environmental approvals have been obtained.
NRW CEO Jules Pemberton said that the contract provides NRW with a substantial entry into the east coast market and in particular the highly attractive metallurgical coal sector.
Capital expenditure for the project is expected to be in the range of $120m-$145m over a period of 12-18 months.
The Middlemount Coal project is a joint development between Macarthur Coal and Gloucester Coal.
